Note, Nostalgic, New
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and forty-four: ABCs #14 Rachel knows Kurt can do the high F, so why did he blow it?


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, and fifty cycle. Now here's cycle 6!_

_Walking through a bookstore back in december, I saw the series of books by Sue Grafton that go "A is for...," "B is for...," etc, and I got the idea for this set. It will spread over the end of cycle 6, and carry through cycles 7 and 8, to be posted on alternating days. [And by the time we reach the end, Glee will be a week away!!] What I did is I found three words for each letter that would have some significance to Glee, and I built a plot around it. You with me? Okay, here we go...  
**14 of 26: N is for...**_

* * *

**"Note, Nostalgic, New"  
Rachel & Kurt**

There was nothing to tell them that there had been anything beyond what they'd seen, what they knew. Kurt had wanted to sing 'Defying Gravity,' his father had gotten him an audition, but in the end he'd blown the note, the high F, so the song had gone back to Rachel. That was it, end of story… for a while.

A few weeks after the 'diva off,' Mr. Schuester had discussed "making older into something new." They'd put on a few songs, and in the end it seemed no one had caught on to what Rachel had heard from Kurt.

A high F… He'd done it, he'd hit the note, nothing to it.

She didn't know what it meant, but something in her knew there was more to it than what they were presently aware of. Whatever was going on, she had to know.

The next morning, she knew they had first period together and they were usually some of the first ones to get there… it was as good a time as any. She'd been sitting at her desk, going over her notes, when Kurt came in. They exchanged the regular greeting before Kurt went to sit. Rachel hesitated at first, looking back to her notes. After a minute, she closed her book and got up, moving to the desk in front of Kurt's, looking back at him.

"Morning, Kurt," she smiled. He looked at her, wary.

"Good morning," he spoke.

"Can we talk about something?" she started. He gave her a look as though to let her know she should go ahead and say what she had to say. She smiled and nodded before speaking up. "Why did you lie?" he frowned.

"First off, I don't have to tell you everything. And second, lie about what?"

"The note, the high F. Weeks ago you missed it, but yesterday you… you sang it perfectly." She could see him close up briefly before looking back at her with a strong face once more. "It can stay between us," she encouraged. "I don't think anyone else noticed."

"You do have those ears," he looked at her, quiet for a moment. "Look, the day of the diva off, I… I blew the high F…"

"I know," Rachel nodded.

"I threw it. Scratched, whatever you want to call it." Rachel looked at him, part of her taken aback by the admission.

"Why would you do that?" she shook her head. "You wanted the song just as much as I did… if not more." Kurt nodded along to himself.

"Long story…" he started, practically testing to see if she'd let him end it there. It wasn't doing a thing. He looked down to his desk for a chance to think. "My dad…" he started. "I did it for my dad."

"I don't…" Rachel shook her head.

"He got a… call." He was going to elaborate, but evidently he'd said all he needed to for her to understand. She'd quieted so fast that the air seemed to escape her. They were both quiet for a moment.

"Why didn't you say anything? We could have worked something out…"

"I'm not going to lay everything out there for all of Glee Club to…"

"No, I wasn't talking about the others; I meant we could have worked it out, you and me." He finally looked at her again. He didn't know what to say. "I think we both know of everyone in there, I could have understood." He didn't argue. After another silent pause, she bowed her head for a second. "I hate that this happens… to you, to the others…" He nodded. "And I hate that you had to do that… It must have sucked," she managed a little smile, willing for this heavy mood to lift away from them. She saw the corners of his mouth turn up into a similar small smile.

"You have no idea," he shook his head with a sigh. "I knew you'd be jumping for joy the moment you could get out of that wheelchair… kind of made it worse…" He didn't meet her eye in case it upset her. She didn't show any sign of that, and she still had that small friendly smile on her face when he looked back at her. "Part of all of it, isn't it? I guess it makes it… interesting." She shrugged. After a moment…

"We could have a do-over. A re-diva off…" He considered it, but he shook his head. "Not necessary. I think one diva off is plenty for a while. Besides, I've made my peace with it, the moment's passed. Going back to it now would just not do any good," he pointed out.

"Right," she nodded. Another pause…

"So I nailed it, didn't I?" he leaned forward.

"Yes," she smiled. "I was impressed." He smiled back.

"Thanks." She nodded, getting up. "Stays between us, right?"

"Right," she nodded again before moving to sit back at her desk.

As promised, the subject was left not to be touched on again. It was like she'd said, it wasn't about the others. No matter what, she'd helped him, and he'd helped her, too.

THE END


End file.
